Superheroes
by ShelbyElizabeth
Summary: Scorpius Malfoy has a superpower. He can make anyone do anything he wants with just a sneer, smirk, or smile. But everyone with a superpower has a nemesis. Rose Weasley was his. She was immune to every word he said and every look he gave her, or was she?


**Superheroes**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of its characters. If I did, I would be swimming in student loans right now…

.:.:.:.

It could be said that Scorpius Malfoy was a superhero. Or a super-villain. One of the two. Either way, he had a superpower. He could make anyone feel however he wanted. He could make girls swoon at the sight of him, or he could make them feel like they weren't good enough for him. He could even make boys (older boys, at that!) run in terror with just one sneer. After years of practice he perfected a sneer, smirk, or smile appropriate for any occasion or cause. There was just one setback in his quest to be the ultimate superhero. As he learned during the literature portion of the now required Muggle Studies class, every superhero has a nemesis- some who his powers don't seem to affect.

For Scorpius, that someone was named Rose Weasley.

He had known there was something different about her from the moment he first saw her on Platform 9 and ¾, getting on the Hogwarts Express for the very first time. She was standing with her seemingly innumerable family members, all of whom were running around, chasing someone, teasing someone, or (in the parents' cases) scolding someone. But she was doing none of those things. She was simply standing by her trunk and looking at the train with an undeniable excitement in her eyes, an island of calm in a sea of chaos.

He saw a man he presumed to be her father lean down and say something into her ear. It was then that she looked at him, directly at him. He tried to sneer at her, as he would have done with any other member of the Weasley or Potter families, but he found that he couldn't. It was as if his facial features had been chiseled into ice. It was only when she tore her eyes from his to say goodbye to her mother that he was able to move his face again.

"Now Scorpius, I want you to be good. Try not to get into any trouble, dearest," his mother said, stroking his hair softly.

"And try to stay away from the Potters and the Weasleys," his father added, looking his younger counterpart directly in the eyes, "Associating with them can only get you into trouble."

"Yes Father."

The train's whistle sounded, signaling that it was almost time to leave. Scorpius hastily bid his parents goodbye and scrambled onto the train, dragging his trunk behind him. He wandered down the train until he found an empty compartment. He stowed his trunk on the luggage rack and waved to his parents out the window.

Once he could no longer see them, his thoughts came back to the Weasley girl. Why hadn't he been able to sneer at her with the disgust that his father had inadvertently taught him to display at the thought of anything Weasley?

Through the closed compartment door, he heard a muffled voice coming closer. "Come on, Al. Everywhere else is full."

There was a single knock and the door slid open. It was her. The Weasley girl. She was trailed by one of the boys he had seen by her on the platform, probably a brother or cousin or something like that.

"Hi," she said in a cheerful voice. "Do you mind if we join you? Everywhere else is full."

She was even more astonishing up close. She had red hair that had a slight chocolate sheen and the brightest blue eyes he had ever encountered. Her skin was clear except for a few freckles that dotted her nose, and try as he might, he couldn't sneer at her. For the second time in one day, he was frozen.

She took his silence for a yes and stowed her trunk, sliding into the seat across from him. Her companion did the same. "I'm Rose Weasley and this is my cousin, Albus," she said with a warm smile, revealing her perfectly straight, white teeth.

"Al," the boy corrected, "Al Potter."

Scorpius took a breath to cleanse his airways and tried to relax, letting his icy features melt. "Scorpius Malfoy," he said.

Scorpius' lips drew into a smirk as the boy's face went blank, probably at the prospect of sharing a compartment with a Malfoy. At least, that was what Scorpius presumed. It was only safe to guess that if his father had told him about Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger-Weasley, and their children, that their parents had told them about him as well. Albus had enough sense not to say anything though. This comforted Scorpius. He could still smirk, which meant that those other two times when he couldn't move were a fluke. He was probably just a little nervous about going to Hogwarts for the first time. It had nothing to do with the Weasley girl after all.

"It's nice to meet you," Rose smiled again.

The smirk dropped of his face.

"I'm going to go find Fred," Albus announced, "You coming?"

"No thanks," she politely declined, "You go ahead."

The boy exited the compartment. "Don't do anything stupid!" she yelled at his retreating back.

"Sorry about him," she said, shutting the compartment door, "He's just being a prat."

Scorpius said nothing in response, thinking it would fluster her. Instead, she seemed to realize that he did not want to talk, at least, not to her. They lapsed into a long silence as she pulled out a book and began to read.

As more time passed, he could feel himself getting desensitized to her presence. After what seemed like decades, he felt his lips pull back into a sneer. He plastered the expression on his face for the remainder of the train ride, staring at her the entire way to Hogwarts expect for the brief time when she left to change into her robes. He took advantage of her disappearance to do the same. When she returned, he went back to staring and sneering.

When they finally pulled into Hogsmeade Station, she bounced out of her seat and put her book back in with the rest of her things. "See you around then?"

He continued to sneer and said nothing in response.

Unflappable, she gave a small wave and bounded out of the train.

And that's the way she remained for six years. Unflappable.

He had been sorted into Slytherin, as his father expected of him, and she into Gryffindor, just like the rest of her family. He found that they had quite a few classes together, something to do with the misguided belief that the centuries long feud between the two houses could be dispelled by them spending more time together.

His silence progressed to shortness if she asked him something to rudeness without provocation to insults in class resulting in laughter from the Slytherins and glares from the Gryffindors. But not from her. His shortness was diffused by her unfailing politeness and she excused his rudeness with a smile. Even his insults did nothing to her. She paid them no mind and spared them no second thought. Once the words were out of his mouth, it was as if he had never said anything, if her reaction was anything to go by.

Thus, Rose Weasley was his nemesis.

.:.:.:.

"Scorpius?" a soft voice asked.

He knew it was her before he even looked up from his table in the library. She always called him Scorpius, no matter what horrible things he called her. "What is it Weasley?"

"Would you mind having a look over my Transfiguration essay? I want to make sure it's good but I've been looking at it for so long that I don't think I'll be able to objectively make changes," she sat down next to him.

She looked stunning. Her soft curls were pulled back into a low ponytail and she still had the same few freckles on her nose. The only difference on her face between now and when Scorpius first saw her up close on the Hogwarts Express was her eyes. Six years ago, they had been a bright, sparkling blue. Now they were a darker but still beautiful ocean blue that made him just want to get lost in them. She wasn't much taller than she had been that first day, coming in at perhaps 5' 6", but now her body had curves. She was still slender, but she wasn't stick thin like Gemma McLaggen, who was built more like an adolescent boy than a 17-year-old girl, nor was any part of her body out of proportion, like Agatha Goyle, another 7th year who was so top-heavy Scorpius was surprised that she could even walk upright.

In a word, she was perfection.

"Can't your idiot cousin do it, because I'm kind of busy here," he snipped.

He wasn't really busy though. He had just finished an essay for Herbology on the properties of Devil's Snare and how useful it could be for making potions and was contemplating packing his things up and going to dinner.

As usual, she ignored his dig at her cousin. "Al's not here and Transfiguration isn't his best subject," she put it as kindly as she could while still being truthful, Scorpius knew. Albus was terrible at Transfiguration, perhaps the worst in their year. He was sure that Rose helping him study for three months leading up to the O.W.L.s was the only way that Al had gotten into the N.E.W.T. level class anyway. "If you want, I can have a look at this while you do mine," she offered, sliding his Herbology essay off his stack of books.

"Fine," he grumbled, taking her essay and charming his black ink to red, preparing to make as many changes as he could to her paper, wondering if that was how he could finally get to her.

_Damn it_, he thought as he read through the essay, _It's freakin' perfect_.

And it was. There were only a few minor spelling errors in some very complicated words. He glanced at her as she crossed out a line here and there on his own parchment, scribbling suggestions in the margins and moving sentences and paragraphs around. She didn't even look up at him as he continued to stare at her. As always, she was unflappable.

_At least I'm going to get an "O" on my essay now_, he mumbled inside his head, turning back to her parchment. He positioned his quill like a weapon, choosing random spots and writing things like _This doesn't make sense_ and _Explain this for normal human beings_. They were some of his weakest insults, but somehow, it didn't seem fair to write anything meaner.

When he was finished, her parchment was more red than black even though there was nothing wrong with it, save for a few- okay, just two- spelling errors. She finished at just the same time and passed his essay back to him. He shoved hers away from him as though he couldn't bear to look at it any longer. "Wow, thanks Scorpius. Whenever Al looks over my papers he hardly makes any changes at all. I think this is really going to improve my essay. I might have to come to you for help more often," she smiled, sweeping her eyes over the parchment to see what he had written and where.

"Whatever," he sneered.

She put the essay into her back. "Well, see you in class."

He watched her back as she left. He almost snickered as she stopped briefly at a table by the door and lovingly ruffled the hair of another student, who was almost surely one of her younger cousins, judging by the wild red hair on the boy's head.

What is the matter with me? Does my superpower not work any more? he wondered. He noticed a group of sixth year girls at the next table over eying him with interest and flashed them a dazzling smile, sending them into a fit of giggles that Madame Pince clearly found distracting. As she ushered them out of the library, one of the girls slipped a bit of parchment with her name and a request for him to go with her to the next Hogsmeade weekend.

He read it with disinterest. Sure, (he quickly consulted the paper) Ally Smith was cute, but she wasn't like Rose. His superpower worked on her, so he knew she wouldn't really be worth his time.

"That's it!" the realization came so suddenly that he didn't know he had spoken aloud until he saw Madame Pince's warning glare.

He had been trying the wrong technique all these years. Sneers and smirks didn't work on Rose, but his smiles, he was sure, would.

.:.:.:.

"Hello Rose," he greeted, sliding in the seat next to her in Potions.

If she was at all flustered by either his unexpected greeting or his sudden decision to sit by her in class, she didn't show it.

"Hello Scorpius," she said politely, "How are you?"

He smiled at her and replied softly, "I'm pretty fantastic. You know, you look wonderful today."

She blushed at the compliment. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"Humph!" a sound of distaste and perhaps a bit of jealousy came from somewhere behind Scorpius and to his left.

A quick glance back confirmed his suspicions. Agatha Goyle glared at him and Rose with such intensity that he was sure if looks could kill, her eyes would be dismembering their corpses by now. Not wanting to put up with her complaints later on at dinner, he grinned back at her and even tossed in a wink for good measure. The girl's anger instantly evaporated. She blew him a little kiss and he knew she was going to try to seduce him later.

He instantly regretted acknowledging her at all. He was running out of excuses for why he didn't want to sleep with her. The main reason was the girl to his right, but he couldn't tell Agatha that. Until he got under Rose's skin, there was no way his life could go back to normal.

He turned back around as their professor came in and began class, sneaking sideways glances at Rose. He studied her as she diligently copied notes off the board. Somehow, she ended up with twice the information on her parchment as had been given to them at all.

Scorpius thought about this for a moment. Potions was his worst subject, next to Herbology, and it was clearly a strength of Rose's. Perhaps she wasn't a nemesis after all, but a resource he could use to propel himself to the academic heights he would need if he was going to get into the Healing program at St Mungos.

Before he knew it, the lecture potion of their class was over and people were scurrying about, getting ingredients they needed to brew Draught of the Living Death per the instructions of their teacher. Even Rose had slipped out of their table without him noticing.

"Here," a pile of various roots, beans, and animal parts were pushed at him.

He looked up, bewildered. Rose added a small vial of desiccated beetle eyes to the pile before taking her seat again. "I could have gotten my own ingredients," he said stubbornly, forgetting his plan to dazzle her rather than frustrate and anger her.

"I know," she said with a soft smile, "But you looked so far away in dreamland that I thought it would be rude to disturb you."

Her kindness astounded him. The few torn, mangled remnants of his 6 year long plan to get under her skin flew out of his mind as he turned to her. His desire to know why she was immune to his superpowers overwhelmed every sense in his body. "Why are you so nice to me?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

"I've been nothing but horrible to you the entire time we've known each other. I've said terrible things to you, I've played vicious pranks on you, and you've never once batted an eye or retorted at all," he continued.

"Less talking, more working," Professor Cabot stood over their table, frowning slightly.

"Yes, sir," Rose said, turning to her potion once more.

When the tall, dark man was gone, she whispered back to Scorpius, "I guess I've just always believed that it doesn't do anyone any good to be unkind."

"A perfect answer," he said quietly in response, "You really are my nemesis."

"What?" she asked in surprise, a little more loudly than she had intended.

Before he could reply, Professor Cabot was back at their table. "Detention for both of you, tonight at eight o'clock sharp. Bring dragon hide gloves. As I have told the class many times, talking rather than working is against the rules in this classroom."

The look of surprise faded off Rose's face and she said quietly, and a bit sadly, "Yes, sir."

Scorpius wondered silently if this would be her first detention. He made a mental note to ask her later when they returned to the dungeons.

.:.:.:.

At seven forty-five, Scorpius left the Slytherin common room for the dungeons, leaving Agatha on one of the sofas, fuming about how he didn't want to fool around with her. As he continued on his short journey, he thought back to the look on her face when he had foolishly slipped up and mentioned her role in his real-life comic book. It was the first time in six years that anything he had said to her was met with a reaction other than calmness. He smiled at the thought. Perhaps she wasn't as unflappable as he thought.

As he drew nearer to the classroom door, he saw a figure approaching from the opposite direction. Sure enough it was Rose. He reached the door a split second before her, grabbed the handle, and swung the door open, allowing her to enter first. "After you," he said, grinning at her.

For the first time in six years, she did not return his smile. Instead, she kept her eyes down and hurried into the room. Scorpius did not have time to consider her strange actions as Professor Cabot was waiting for them inside. "Good evening," he greeted stiffly, "For your detention, you will be cleaning the spare cauldrons without magic. You'll find everything you need here," he indicated the table to his left, "Should you need anything, I will be in my office grading papers."

"Git," Scorpius mumbled to himself as the professor swept up the stairs into his office, closing the door behind him.

The pair set about their task, each grabbing a cauldron. Scorpius looked at his in disgust. There was a green goo at the bottom that looked and smelled as if it had been there since his dad was at school. "Is this your first detention?" he asked.

She nodded, keeping her head down, focused on her own cauldron, which seemed to be smoking slightly.

"Sorry about that," he said genuinely.

"It's not your fault," she replied.

"If I hadn't said anything to you, you wouldn't have said anything either, and thus you wouldn't have gotten a detention."

"It's not your fault," Rose repeated, "I knew that talking was against the rules but I did it anyway."

He sighed. "There you go again, another bloody perfect answer."

They lapsed into an uneasy silence, both remembering what he had said the last time he mentioned her answer being perfect.

Their pile of cauldrons steadily dwindled as the night continued. Scorpius grabbed another one and looked at it in amusement. "I don't think this one is salvageable," he broke the ice, holding it up to his face and turning towards her. There was a rather large hole burned in the bottom.

She giggled as he tossed it to the side and selected another. "What did you mean earlier?" she asked with a soft smile still displayed on her beautiful features.

He didn't answer, knowing that if there was one thing a superhero should never do, it was reveal his powers to the person who could destroy him. She moved her cauldron to the clean pile but did not grab another. Instead, she looked at him, unintentionally drawing his silvery-gray eyes up to her deep blue ones. "When you said I was your nemesis, what did you mean?" she repeated with clarification, as if he didn't know exactly what she was talking about.

He sighed again. "I- Well, it's kind of a secret," he hesitated. She nodded slightly, encouraging him to continue. "I sort of have a superpower."

She masked her confusion and nodded again. "You see, I can make people do what I want them to. I can make girls fall in love with me with just one smile. I can make guys get out of my way and never cross my path again with just one glare," Rose was startled, but she didn't show it. "But not you. You're immune to it. I don't know how and I don't know why, but no matter how hard I try to get you to follow the rules of my power, you never react appropriately. Why is that, do you think?"

She smiled a little. Scorpius looked lost. "Well," she began, "I sort of have a superpower, too," he gave a small gasp, genuinely surprised at her answer, "I can make anyone like me. All it takes is kindness, and eventually anyone will come around and be nice to me as well," she explained. "Part of my superpower is patience, because some people take much longer to turn around than others. Take you for example."

The cauldrons sat on the dungeon table forgotten. "Me?"

"Yes," she continued, "It's taken you six years," her explanation was met with silence, "You do like me, don't you Scorpius?"

He contemplated her question. Those seven words were the strangest, most intriguing ones that he had ever heard in his life. Did he like her? His heart fluttered. It did that a lot when he was around her. He had always assumed it was because she was his nemesis, silently draining his power just by walking in the room, each step whittling away until he was sure he was no longer a superhero. He thought about how every time he drank in her appearance like someone lost in the desert dying of dehydration, every time he heard her laugh, every time she spoke, and he knew the answer. "No."

She looked utterly stunned. "So you are my nemesis," she said softly.

Before he could respond, she grabbed her bag and rushed out the door. Scorpius glanced at the cauldrons still waiting to be cleaned and then followed her, knowing that leaving before he was finished would result in another detention. She must have heard his footsteps because she hurried up, breaking into a full on run down the corridor. He sprinted behind her, finally managing to catch up to her somewhere on the fifth floor. "Rose, wait!" he grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her back, careful not to hurt her.

"Let me go," she snarled. It almost frightened Scorpius. He was certain he had never seen her angry before. He was fairly sure that she had never been angry before in her life. She tried to pull away but he tightened his grip.

"Just wait for a minute," he said, "Can we just talk for a minute, and then you can go back to being furious with me?"

"Fine," Rose snapped, yanking her arm out of his grasp.

She stalked over to the wall opposite him and stared, waiting for him to speak.

"You've certainly never reacted like this to me before," he finally said.

"I have," she admitted, "I just wouldn't let you see it. You have no idea how many times I've gone back to my dormitory after you've insulted me and screamed in frustration. Some of the things you say are so horrible that I can't even scream; I just cry. And sometimes, when all of it builds up enough, I spend the entire day locked in my room crying until I feel sick. But I never showed any of that because I have a superpower, and it didn't matter what it took but I was determined to make you like me, even if it was just so you would stop saying those things to me. And then today, you smiled at me, genuinely smiled at me, and it made me weak in the knees. You were so charming, I was certain that the real you was finally coming out, that your personality really was as good as the rest of you. I thought I was finally getting through to you."

Scorpius listened in amazement. So she wasn't he nemesis after all.

"But I guess none of my hard work mattered, because you are immune to my superpower," she slid down the wall and started to cry silently.

He debated for a moment, and then sat next to her. "No, I'm not," he whispered.

"What?" she looked up at him.

Seeing her eyes swimming with tears he had caused made Scorpius feel pangs of guilt that rattled him to his core. "I'm not," he repeated, "You've intrigued me since the moment I met you, Rose. First saw you, actually. You were different. I found I couldn't use any of my powers on you. I guess after enough time passed I was able to try, but they never worked. No matter what I did to try to get under your skin, you brushed it off without a thought. No matter what I said, you were always nice. Merlin, it bugged me. You were so perfect. You are so perfect. You're nice, intelligent, funny, and beautiful. Everything a guy could want in a girl. But I couldn't have you because you were immune to my superpower, or so I thought, at least."

An awkward silence settled over the pair. Scorpius took a deep breath and looked over at Rose, who was still silently crying. "Merlin, Rose, I am so sorry for everything I've said to you. I honestly didn't mean to make you feel so terrible," he wiped away her tears with his sleeve, "Seriously. So in answer to the question you asked earlier- no, I don't like you. I don't know how and I don't know when, but I fell in love with you," she tore her eyes from the floor and looked at him. They were now swimming with questions rather than tears. "I love you," he repeated more firmly.

She said nothing, but her silence spoke volumes. She never wanted to speak with him again, he was sure of it. "Right then," he got up and headed back to the dungeons.

He made it back to the table just in time. Professor Cabot came out of his office to check on them; after all, they had been awfully quiet for a while. If only they could be that quiet in his class. "Where is Miss Weasley?" he asked in a cold voice.

"She, er…"

Rose came back into the room as Scorpius' mind tried to kick into overdrive and come up with an excuse that wouldn't get her in trouble. "Sorry Professor, the fumes were getting to me so I told Scorpius that I was going to take a break for a minute. I'm fine now though."

The professor nodded, although he knew she wasn't telling him the truth. "I think you two can be done for tonight. But if you talk in my class again, you're going to have to return to finish the lot. You may leave."

Both nodded in comprehension, and then Scorpius followed Rose out of the room again, closing the door softly behind them. She walked down the hall a few paces, then stopped and turned to face him. Thinking she wanted another apology, he said, "I'm really sorry, Rose. I promise that I will never say anything like that to you ever again. I'll never even speak to you again, if you want."

"I don't want that," she said.

She hesitated for a moment, then strode up to him with certainty, placed a hand on his cheek and kissed him. Really kissed him. He wrapped both arms around her waist and pulled her closer. Her lips were just as soft as he'd imagined they were. She tasted wonderful, like a heavenly mix of raspberries and white chocolate, and he couldn't believe that she was actually kissing him.

When she finally ran out of oxygen, she pulled back. "I just want you to be nice to me."

"I can do that," he whispered, pulling her in for another kiss that was just as intoxicating as the first.

Keeping one arm wrapped around her waist, he placed his other hand on the back of her neck and lifted her off her feet. She let one of her hands run through his hair, while she wrapped her other arm behind his neck and grasped his strong shoulder firmly.

He set her down and she pulled away again, letting her forehead rest against his. "So now what?" she asked.

"Now we be superheroes," he replied, "Only now, we work together."

So they did, and Scorpius' nemesis was no longer his nemesis. She was his girlfriend, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

.:.:.:.

A/N: I hope you liked the story. Please leave a review, even if it's just a few words to let me know what you liked or didn't like about the story. Thanks!


End file.
